Psychonauts

OK, Psychonauts is a bit of an older title (released in 2005), but don't let that keep you from trying it out... it's one of those rare cases where it really holds up well over the years. I expect that's because of the art style of the game... since it doesn't take itself too seriously, they use an offbeat, not-quite-cartoony visual style that I wouldn't expect to change much if the game were remade for today's consoles.

As far as what the game is, it's a 3d platformer, following the exploits of the young protagonist Raz, a budding young psychic, starting with his break-in into a government-run summer camp for psychic children, and running from that odd starting point to progressively stranger encounters. All the while, Raz improves his powers and adds new ones along the way, which he can use however he wants thereafter to get past the challenges he faces.

Of course, a good platformer needs a variety of levels, if it doesn't want to bore the player through repetition. In the case of Psychonauts, this is accomplished by having Raz enter the minds of various people to meet his goals (well, mostly people at least... I guess it depends on how you view giant mutated lungfish, for example). Their personalities, histories, and, in some cases, mental health problems, shape the worlds you explore... and, if you care to look around hard enough, you might find out things that, while not strictly necessary to the overall story, make the individual characters more than the bare-bones stereotypes they play to move the story forward.

Overall, it's a unique little game, and I mean that in a good way. It's a solid platformer, a fun world that doesn't take itself too seriously, and mostly avoids the trap of send 'em back to the start if they don't do well (although, some of the final levels of the "meat circus" had me cursing the designers for not spacing their respawns to my liking). It's a $15 (1200 point) download on the Xbox360, probably less for one of the legal PC-version downloads, or you might even find the original disc floating around a used game store for Xbox or PS2. If you have the hardware to support, I think you'll find it worth your while... play time for me was about 15 hours front to back.